The Tale Of Two Brothers
by SilentAffections
Summary: Itachi spent the last two years worrying of his brother. Of how he was doing. Believing Sasuke's disappearance was all due to him. The last thoughts of Itachi, before his death.  A Short story of the love a brother has.


The man sat propped up against the old cement walls of his living room. His gaze falling on the old door, before falling to some other place. Every night it seemed the man sat there and waited. Waited for his friend, his brother to come home. The truth was, even if his young brother always called him heartless for the way he acted. Called him a jerk for taking his things away, the older man couldn't help but worry.

It had always been like this. Ever since their parents life had come to an end. A new chapter in their lives had begun. One filled of hate, resent, regret.

And that one thing in which the man always regretted was never coming out to his younger brother. Never telling him what he had always should have. As they had both stood there teary eyes, staring down at their old parents grave.

But maybe, now that the man thought of it, maybe this was the moment. The moment where everything around the two mattered most. The moment everything seemed so far away.

The night grew colder as the moon grew higher. Shining its rays into the fogged up window of the old Uchiha house. Sure enough, Itachi thought this was the first place his brother would show up. It was his favorite place to run away as a kid.

But as the hours only seemed to pass, he knew how wrong he had been.

There was no way his brother would go to a place the man knew of. The whole point of leaving was to run. Not from the village, not from the past, not from their parents, but from him.

"Where have you gone. . . Sasuke?"

And before the older boy knew it, seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days.

Without a word from his young brother, this world seemed as unbearable as it was hearing of his parent's death.

Yet the only thing that had motivated him back then was the one thing he had lost.

If his parents had been watching him from the heavens, surely they would've shaken theirs heads in dismay. Surely they would have been disappointed, for leaving their child in the care of a man who had no clue on how to raise a child.

For back then, he was only a child as well. And surely, Sasuke had resented him for it.

Days turned to weeks without a word from his brother.

And no one around the small village had claimed to have seen the boy. Not that they pretended to care.

But not once had Itachi given in to the darkness around him. And the older man continued to hope, to pray for the safety of his younger brother. To see him once again.

Even if no one else seemed to care, or seemed to understand how anyone could feel this way towards a run away. Itachi always knew the answer to this, and hadn't expected anyone else to try and understand the way he felt towards the boy.

Sasuke was his brother, his only living relative. And in a way, he had let the only person that he truly cared for down. And such thoughts clouded his mind for many, many days.

Often at night, he tossed and turned. And when the sun had just began to peak over the hills, Itachi would wake In a sweat.

The fear he had hidden ever since his parent's departure now clearly showing itself.

It was hard to outshine reality when it so clearly presented itself now. In some familiar way, as if it were rubbing salt into a wound. Causing the pain to become unbearable as it had been before.

And before we know it, months flew by as well. Until one day, he marked the day of July twenty third.

Not only had this day been the day of his brother's birthday, it had been the day his brother ran out. As well as the day his brother would have lost the title of a child, and become a man.

To celebrate such a significant day without his brother, how could he?

"Sasuke." Itachi whispered, glancing up at the rising sun. "How is it out there? Just know, when you feel as if you have nowhere else to go, this will always be your home."

After that fateful day, people watched as Itachi grow sick. Watched with pity as his skin lost its glow, his perfect eyes losing the radiance they once had. Even if he had been considered young for his age, the man grew thin, fragile. To some, he looked even old.

But no one ever asked, for no one ever cared. To them, such a foolish man should have no right to complain if he had so foolishly believed in a man who saw nothing in the weasel himself. And this was his punishment in being fooled so easily. No village wanted such a weak man to ruin its reputation.

But Itachi kept quiet. His once beautiful black hair now growing old and wiry. New and old creases now resting upon his once beautiful face.

"Itachi." An old friend finally spoke from the crowd, glancing for a long time at his friend's face. "You must start taking better care of yourself. God, I barely recognized you. If you continue like this you'll. . ."

"I know." The man smiled, taking a folded piece of paper out from under his jacket. "It's bound to happen sometime isn't it?"

His friend cringed as he listened to the words, hesitantly grasping the paper within his slender fingers. "What is this?"

"It's almost been two years. If he ever comes back home, give this to him."

"Itachi, what are you talking about?" The man seemed hurt, "Why not give it to him yourself?"

Itachi only smiled, before disappearing within the streets, back to the old house where he so patiently waited.

And soon enough, the day came where the older brother could no longer step a foot from his house.

July 23rd.

And the day following the important date, the young Uchiha showed himself to the village. Anxious to see his older brother. To learn all that has happened in his time away.

But as he entered the old house, the only thing that waited for him was a note. Propped up on the table with the letters spelling out "Sasuke" in black ink on the front.

There were two. One, had frantically been written, nothing he knew his brother could ever write. But what the message itself had said, shocked him to no end.

"Sasuke. . . My humble apologies, to the young brother of the Itachi Uchiha. But the man, through years of worrying grew gravely ill. And no matter how much I had warned him, he paid no attention. Your brother died, on the day of July 23rd, and it is to be said that the cause of death . . . He starved himself, till the day he was too weak to even wake himself from slumber. So, to my dismay, it is I who announces to you that your dear brother has gone. And the only thing left is to read is the message he had written so dearly for you."

The letter hit the floor as Sasuke moved on to the next. His brown eyes frantically searching the letter.

But the only thing that seemed visible to the boy were the only two words written across the old paper. In fine black ink, it read "Welcome Home."

The young boy sat for a moment, feeling disbelief in the letters that had just been read. Everything suddenly sinking in around him.

Itachi, his older brother, his only brother, was dead. Only a day before he had decided to return home.

Sasuke stood still for a moment, choking back the tears that so easily flowed from his cheeks.

"I'm home."


End file.
